Lakeland Historic Preservation Board OKs Confederate statue move

Thursday

But who will pay for it? A request by the City Commission for residents to donate money has come up woefully short, raising just under 5 percent of the total estimated cost of $200,000.

LAKELAND — After a 2½-hour discussion Thursday by the public and board members about the historic merits of the downtown Confederate monument, the Historic Preservation Board's Design Review Committee unanimously approved removing and relocating the 26-foot-tall monument.

“The park was there prior to the Confederate memorial being put up,” said committee and board member Tim Calhoon, a downtown restaurant owner. He said he was awake late Wednesday considering the issue, adding that he originally thought it was a statue of city founder Abraham Munn when he first saw it. “We're not destructing, we're thinking about moving — that's different.”

The Lakeland City Commission voted in December to remove the statue from Munn Park. In May, the commission voted to move the statue to Veterans Memorial Park on the west side of the RP Funding Center. The Historic Preservation Board, an independent body appointed by the commission, determines whether architectural changes in Lakeland's historic districts comply with preservation rules.

Nearly two dozen people spoke on the issue, about evenly split for and against moving the statue, which was erected in the town square in 1910 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

St. Petersburg attorney Andy Strickland, who is leading the charge to keep the statue in Munn Park, gave a presentation with historic documents and photos.

“Why do we have to come here early in the morning and convince an historic preservation board to preserve its history?” Strickland asked the nine-member board just past its 7:30 a.m. start time. “The UDC notes state that 'the city commission very gladly graced our presence and assured us that this monument would never be moved.' ”

In a letter that was part of his presentation, Strickland wrote: “Munn Park was Lakeland's first historical district and located in the center of Munn Park is a 100-year-old memorial dedicated to war dead, paid for by the descendants of those fallen, and attended by dignitaries and living fellow soldiers who experienced America's bloodiest and costliest conflict firsthand.”

Darlene Bruner, president of Lakeland's Annie Darracott chapter of the UDC, explained that the group is “not a hate group,” but instead helps members with historic research and genealogy and also volunteers with and for veterans' groups. She pointed out that the $1,750 raised in the early 1900s to erect the monument was done so by women. The City Commission at the time also contributed $250.

“Frankly, it's delicate, it's over 100 years old,” Bruner said. “We're not sure it can make the move. If you do vote to move this statue and support the city's request, I want to know what parameters you'll require on the city to ensure its safety. We want it to stay in Munn Park, but we were happy that if it has to be moved, that it will go to Veterans Park.”

Some speakers pointed out that when the statue was erected, it was at the height of the Jim Crow era, when white and ethnic minority residents had separate schools, seating areas in restaurants and movie theaters, and separate water fountains. Interracial marriage was illegal. Many black people were kept from voting and the Ku Klux Klan routinely lynched people in the South.

Terry Coney, a lifelong resident of Lakeland and a 22-year veteran of the United States Air Force, said the statue was being moved to its rightful place in a park dedicated to veterans and war dead, which didn't exist when the statue was put up.

“Nobody that looked like me had a voice,” Coney, who is black, told the all-white board.

Janet Findlay, a Lakeland resident, gave a passionate plea to move the statue.

“This is a hundred-year-old thinking. We people of color weren't even considered human beings in the 1800s,” Findlay said. “It wasn't believed that we could think, teach our children. I shouldn't have to feel 'less than' because of a statue. You can't think of something better to put there? Why is this so hard? Why are we fighting so hard for the way we thought 100 years ago?”

Pearl Bryan, who is in her 70s, told the board that she had been an Alabama cotton-picker when she moved to Lakeland at 15 to escape her abusive and racist father.

“I was brought up to hate, hate, hate,” Bryan said. “But God came to my heart. If we don't forgive one another, we're not going to make it to heaven.”

Historic Preservation Board and Design Review Committee member Dan Fowler, an architect, acknowledged that both the park and statue are historically significant and that former city leaders spent decades improving Munn Park.

“It could be an opportunity to help Munn Park,” Fowler said, adding that he would like to see the fountain currently at the north end of the park replace the statue.

Nicholas Thomas pointed out that the board has moved historic structures in the past.

“If we were to do it, it wouldn't be the first,” Thomas said.

Board and committee member Lynn Dennis made several attempts to make the correct motion for approval as they discussed places where it might be relocated.

“In the whole context, does that severely impact the historic nature of Munn Park and the historic district?” she asked before finally putting forth a motion to remove and relocate the statue, without specifying where.

After the vote, David McCallister, leader of the Tampa chapter of the Sons of the Confederacy, said several people would be working together to file an appeal.

Though the City Commission voted to move the statue, and the Historic Preservation Board has given its assent to the decision, the commission did not set aside money to move the statue, estimated to exceed $200,000. Instead, the commission asked residents interested in moving the statue to donate cash, an effort that has thus far come up short, raising just under 5 percent of the total estimated cost.

A solicitation for bids by statue movers will be posted by the city this week.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill Mutz has taken on the role of fundraiser, sending out more than 300 letters to potential donors this week.

Kimberly C. Moore can be reached at kmoore@theledger.com or 863-802-7514. Follow her on Twitter at @KMooreTheLedger.

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